We worship this earth, we worship those heavens: we worship those good things which stand between the earth and the heavens and that are worthy of sacrifice and prayer, and are to be worshiped by the faithful man. We worship the souls of the wild beasts and the tame. We worship the souls of the holy men and women, born at any time, whose consciences struggle, or will struggle, or have struggled, for the good.

While “worship” or “faithful” or “holy” or “sacrifice” and “prayer” are typical terms as applied by the formalized, totalitarian religions as a means to keep the great unwashed under their thumb – and as much as the Zoroaster faith preached that God alone should be worshiped –  these terms can stand perfectly on their own without reference to a an imaginary deity of sorts,  i.e., God – by applying them to the way in which we pursue the truth about ourselves.

That is, we pursue these truths faithfully, for their own sake, and without coercion from anyone, and to the benefit of all mankind. And what we will find is the good inherent in all of us, and it is this truth that is “holy” and should be “worshiped” in the sense that we will put this above everything else that we treasure about life in the world.

By “sacrifice” we might well have to be less selfish than usual on occasion, in order to put the greater good ahead of ourselves in order to help others. And by “prayer” we need to do nothing more than express the hope and belief in ourselves that we are here for the right reasons, which is to realize the common good in ourselves as we rise to our full potential as human beings.

I can’t claim to have any special insight here, but it seems to me that, first of all, it makes sense to pursue the things that benefit us most as a species, and not look at sacrificing some individuals to the betterment of others as a means to advance the human race as a whole. This has to be a fundamental truth about ourselves, but sadly, the sum of human history to date shows primarily the exploitation and slaughter of the many to benefit the few.

If this proves anything all – and notwithstanding the enlightenment expressed by the ancient Zoroastrian faith –   it is that the formalized religions have been absolutely no help at all to the betterment of humanity, and in fact can be seen as the instigators – and in many cases the perpetrators – of much of the murder and mayhem that has befallen the many people of this earth for reasons that make no sense at all.

Surely we can get there without religious totalitarianism  and especially without  religions in their most virulent and primitive form and when ancient tribal laws are used in an inhumane and brutal manner. All this coercion in the name of a ‘higher” authority has nothing to do with serving an almighty god of sorts or whatever else they claim to be about.  In the end this more likely about the few having the means to control the many in everyday life, such as when women and girls are devalued to the level of cattle, to be used and abused at will because it is their duty to comply.

Life has no value  when it is so easily denigrated or even dispensed with in order to prevent dissent.  I’m referring to caning people in public, hacking off hands or stoning people to death: they are barbaric acts that have no place in a society that values the sanctity of life.   Clearly, no effort towards the greater good is happening here.